There were 134 professional qualifying runs made in Saturday qualifying at the AAA Texas NHRA Nationals, and of those runs, only one driver managed to unseat his eliminator's qualifying leader.

Let the record reflect, Jerry Savoie, the man who raises alligators for a living, took a big bite out of Andrew Hines with a 6.805 elapsed time at 197.31 miles per hour during the first pair in Saturday's qualifying.  Hines also improved by .001 but his gain wasn't enough to fend off Savoie's charge.

Saturday's quick pass ensured Savoie his first No. 1 qualifier of the season, and the sixth of his career.

"At this point in the game, it's important to grab as many points as you can," said Savoie, who claimed the second-quickest run in the Q-4 session. "I don't know if I am more excited to qualify No. 1 than I am to win a race.

"We've been bumped around all season behind Angelle [Sampey] and Eddie [Krawiec]. We'd go to No. 1 on Friday and speak to the media but on Saturday they just come around us. It's a good weekend so far."

Savoie, who is from Cut Off, La., the small town outside of New Orleans, considers the Texas Motorplex, located outside of Dallas, to be his home track.

"To come here and do what we do, hopefully, we can repeat what we did here last year," Savoie added.

Savoie won last year from the pole position in a victory over Eddie Krawiec, which vaulted him into the third position in points. One race later, he ascended to second place before falling out of contention when he lost to Krawiec in the second round at Pomona.

Some tracks have good mojo for the Suzuki rider.

"We always run well in Indy. Been to Indy five times, I’ve been in the finals four I think," Savoie said. "It’s crazy numbers. Six and four or something. Vegas I’ve been in the finals several times. Here, my second time. I always run well here. Second time qualifying number one. Just certain tracks, for some, and it’s not anything, just got the tuneup. It’s just one of those things. And we’re close to home, so….makes it wonderful.

There was no indication from Friday evening any of the past magic was forthcoming this weekend.

"Last night was a run," Savoie admitted. "And with the shield getting fogged up and whatnot, I was really disappointed. We felt there was a .79 out there. And looking at all the data, and everything, there probably was."  

Savoie needed the Friday success if only to slow down the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson team, who ironically build his engines through their Vance & Hines shop.

"The bottom line is, those guys are good racers," Savoie said. "Even if they’re not always the fastest, they’re not always the fastest that weekend or that day; they manage to pull it out. I mean, Andrew beat me. I was faster than him. He had a .000 light. How are you going to beat that?

"You know, unless you run big numbers faster than him. But, for the most part, they’re good racers. They have a good team; they know what to look for. There's 20-something bikes out here this weekend. Look back from early during the season and see which bikes are the top five or six. Those guys work hard. Really hard. And they’re out here to make it work. We want to go fast. And we want to be No. 1. And we want to win a championship.

"Last year, I’ll be honest with you, it really didn’t matter. But this year is personal. I’m getting up in age; I don’t know how long I’ll be doing this. So, yep, we’re going for a championship and see what happens."

Today, what Savoie needed to happen, happed. If only he can make it happen Sunday remains to be seen.